The Love That Surpasses Knowledge

Ah, Saint Paul! Sometimes you weary me with your ancient patriarchal Hebrew baggage! Sometimes i am offended, even dismayed that one chosen in Love can sometimes still play the Pharisee role in which you persecuted with fervour!

Then you speak such magnificent words, these feel to me more true to the Holy Ghost that unites us. Through God's glory we are strengthened with power in our shared Spirit. And, that Christ dwelling in our hearts through our daily and active faith may root and ground our love for him and one another. And, that wisdom may be ours to share, the wisdom of the saints, those who gave up their Self and found the Truth.

"And to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:19)

Dearest Saint Paul, bless you today for reminding me of that love that surpasses my own knowledge, that love that transcends my limited mind with its world preoccupations and fears. And in that state of love that unites us with and in and through Christ, we may be filled with Love, Truth, the enormity of All There Is in God, or simply put, that we might find our way home.

Deo Gratias.

Vigilance

Be vigilant! Stand ready to serve at a moment's notice! Trust and listen for his call.

From the Irish Jesuits:
In our relationships with God, it is always the present which counts. The prepared servant lives constantly in the present and seeks and finds God there. A life so lived takes care of itself – and its future.

To dwell in the past or ponder uselessly over the future, the one gone the other unborn, is nothing more than a distraction. In distraction we are not vigilant. Our trust might be weakened with doubt or speculation. Our ability to listen and hear his voice is debilitated. We are lost in our own personal realities if we are not present-minded. Life is happening now, not yesterday and not tomorrow. If we hear, if we trust in his Holy Spirit, we can act only in the present: we shall answer his call, open the door and receive the Lord and his bounty, his blessing.

Need Is Greed: Take Guard!

"Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, ones life does not consist of possessions."

Jesus tells this to the crowd when he's not really interested in settling an inheritance fight between brothers.

'Greed' is a sick form of attachment, a hunger that cannot be satiated. Greedy people become Hungry Ghosts, according to the Buddhists: these reincarnations are hugely fat beings with tiny little mouths, always hungry, never getting enough, their only world being to feed, accumulate, fill that empty hole in their world. There world is one of suffering.

Like the Messiah riding like a poor beggar on the back of an ass, this King shows that wealth cannot be judged by the flesh, cannot be measured by the Earthly things that seem so important. One's life is the greatest gift and the greatest possession one has, for without it, we would not exist. One's life is given by God. Man does not fabricate the spark of life. Man can only nurture it or take it. All that we can do to honour this life is to honour this gift: Indeed, some consider all life to be sacred. To build up our own comfort and wealth, to eat more than we need to live or to amass more wealth than our neighbour seems not only offensive, but in Jesus' view of life it seems ungrateful, woefully mislead, delusional, lost, petty and selfish.

Indeed, it is the Self, the ego, that needs to build itself up out of fear of danger, fear of coming up short, fear of whatever: think about which fears and greeds are at play when one fills the shopping basket with luxury products, gold, glitter or much more than is actually needed for the body to survive. Need is greed. Thus the Saviour's warning, "Take care to guard against all greed". In meditation, with mindfulness, we can take guard moment by moment. The Self is tricky in its need. The Self is convincing in its habits of want. The Self will use all its efforts to get that guard down. I am my own worst enemy, me thinks.

If i have wisdom i will listen. If i have compassion i will do the right thing. With Jesus i am stronger.

Deo gratias.